External sources of funds for Ukraine are dwindling, but we will find solutions – Ukraine's Finance Minister
The difficulties of sourcing external financing for the state budget are growing every month, and Ukraine will be not just asking for support but demanding it.
Source: Serhii Marchenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Finance, on the national joint 24/7 newscast, reported by Interfax-Ukraine
Quote: "There are fewer and fewer [allies – ed.] willing to allocate funds," he said.
Marchenko noted that this issue was discussed at a meeting of the steering committee of the Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine which took place on 26 September.
According to the minister, the difficulties of external financing are connected with the fact that with every month there is greater concern about the extent to which taxpayers in partner countries are prepared to keep funding Ukraine.
Marchenko is certain, however, that Ukraine has good reason to not just ask for but demand help.
Quote: "I believe that we have enough reasons and grounds not just to ask for support, but to demand it. And we are ready to implement all the necessary reforms and measures to ensure that this support comes to us in a timely manner and in full," Marchenko asserted.
"This is a dialogue. We show the advantages, we show what will happen if they don’t give us funds, we show our successes and the insane work that our armed forces are doing to fight back against one of the largest armies in the world," he said.
According to Marchenko, Ukraine will need US$43 billion of external financing for the state budget in 2024, and it will be more difficult to source funding than it has been this year.
But that does not mean there will be no funds. The Ministry of Finance is doing everything it can to guarantee support.
"This does not mean that we have stopped working. This year we are guaranteed to receive about US$42 billion worth of external financing for the budget deficit. I hope this will be guaranteed in 2024 as well, and we are doing everything possible to ensure that it will be," Marchenko said.
He also said that in 2024, external financing will also be needed for spending on recovery infrastructure projects, since there will be no funds for these needs confiscated from the assets of the Russian Sberbank and VEB subsidiaries, as there were this year, or half of the taxes from National Bank revenues.
In this regard, the Ministry of Finance is insisting that from 1 October onwards, "military" personal income tax should go to the state budget rather than local budgets, to finance the production of military equipment and purchase of drones.
According to Marchenko, before the war, local budgets received UAH 14 billion (about US$379 million) in military personal income tax per year, while today that figure is more than UAH 100 billion (about US$2.7 billion). These funds are being used inefficiently, as is evidenced by the more than UAH 200 billion (about US$5.4 billion) left in the accounts of local budgets.
Marchenko also urged the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) to restrain its desire to make significant changes to the state budget, because it is balanced and 53% of its expenditure is allocated to security and defence.
Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
